Zombie Apocalypse
by PJH505
Summary: Me and my friends find ourselves in the middle of a zombie apocalpyse. Read the story of our epic struggle for survival. Who will survive? Who will not? You'll have to read it to find out.
1. Chapter 1: In the Beginning

Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter 1: In the Beginning

I wasn't always like this. The hardened, battle scarred, apocalypse survivor that talks to you now. I was a carefree teenager just a few years ago. In order for you to understand how my life became a struggle for survival, I need to start from the beginning. It was September 15, 2012. It was my nineteenth birthday. I lived in Bloomfield, New Mexico (a small town near the four corners that most people don't even know about), and this is my story. I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling. I looked to my right at my alarm clock. 10:05 AM. I sat up on the edge of the bed and ran my fingers through my dark hair.

I stood up and stretched as I yawned. I walked out of my bedroom and into my living room. I was just about to call out to see if my mom was home, but I remembered that she had to work that day. About a month after I turned eighteen, my parents got a divorce. I had kinda seen it coming. They had been arguing a lot the last few years and I knew that dad would just stick around until I was eighteen (so he wouldn't have to pay child support, I guess).

I turned and walked back out of the living room and down the hallway towards the bathroom. I closed the door behind me and leaned up against the counter. "Shit," I said to myself, "I guess I'll just take a shower." I quickly stripped off the shorts that I used as pajamas and got in the shower.

The warm stream of water rolled off my body and I felt rejuvenated. I stood in the stream of water for a few minutes, wondering what I'd do today. I knew that a few of my closest friends would be coming over at around 2 for a little get together (I only invited a few people because I don't really like big social gatherings). "What to do? What to do?" I asked myself, "Come on, Paul. Think. There's gotta be something you can do today." (I actually talk to myself a lot) I thought for a moment and figured that I'd call up one of my friends to see if they wanted to hang out until the party started.

I got out of the shower and put on my pants. I stood in front of the mirror and combed my hair back (the same way I've always done my hair). I brushed my teeth and paused for a second afterwards. I looked at my reflection and realized that I hadn't really changed much since eighth grade. I'd pretty much stopped growing then.

I was about 6 feet tall, weighing about 250. Now, I wasn't exactly fat. A lot of that weight was muscle. I mean, I had a bit of a belly, but I wasn't fat. My brown skin had become even more brown, due to spending nearly all of the summer outside (I worked out during the summer and I usually worked out outside). I sighed and reached down and picked up my glasses from the counter. I slipped them on over my dark brown eyes and walked out of the bathroom.

I put on a black shirt and slipped on my favorite pair of shoes (a pair of white DC's with black shoelaces). I grabbed my cell phone and started thinking about who to call. Lost in thought, I was startled when my phone rang. I hit the answer button and brought the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Bub," I heard my mom's voice say.

"Oh, hey mom."

"Happy birthday."

"Thanks."

"So what're you gonna do today?"

"I don't know. I was thinking about calling one of the guys and see if they wanted to hang out until the party."

"Oh, that's cool. By the way, I invited your dad to the party. Is that OK?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know. I just thought that you two weren't exactly on speaking terms." The last time I'd seen my dad, we got into an argument about him leaving mom. He claimed that it was because that they just didn't get along anymore. I believe that, but I also believe he left because he doesn't want to be tied down.

"Nah, we'll be fine," I told mom.

"Well, alright then," she said, "I gotta go. It's pretty busy here at work."

"Alright."

"I love you. Have a good day."

"Love you too. Bye." I hung up the phone and let out a sigh. I felt bad for my mom. I don't really think that she was interested in marrying again, so I was all she had left. My sister, Chelsea, had moved to California the year before with her husband, Josh, and their son, Eli, so we rarely saw her anymore. I knew that once I left, mom would be alone. I guess that's why I put off going to an out of state college for a while. I was due to start class at San Juan College in a few weeks (San Juan was our community college).

After regaining my composure, I returned to thinking of who to call. I had told mom that it would be one of the "guys". I decided that I didn't want to hang out with them until later. So I looked through my contact list and figured out who I'd call. I'd call Zayna Thompson. I'd met Zayna during our sophomore year and we became good friends. In all, I think that she was actually my best girl friend (friend that's a girl).

I selected her number and she picked up a few moments later. "Hello?"

"Hey, Zayna. What's up?"

"Oh, Paul. Not much. Happy birthday, by the way."

"Thanks. Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today. I mean, there's gonna be a party later, but I'm gonna be bored out of my skull just sitting around the house."

"Yeah, sure. What were you thinking about doing?"

"I dunno, probably go to the mall and hang out for a while."

"Sounds good. Give me about a half hour to get ready, alright?"

"Alright, but you better be ready in a half hour. I'm not gonna wait all day for you."

"Don't rush me. I'll talk however long I want and I know you'll wait for me."

"And how do you know that?  
"Because you're my best friend."

"Yeah, you're right. Just call me when you're ready then."

"Alright, bye."

"Later." I hung up the phone and let out another sigh. Zayna probably was one of my best friends (If not, _the_ best). We got along so well from the very start. We always made each other laugh and we always tried to help each other with our problems. I turned on the TV and started watching re-runs (exciting, I know). I watch TV for a while until my phone went off again. "Hello?" I said as I answered it.

"Hey," said Zayna, "I'm ready."

"OK, I'll be there in a few."

"OK, bye." I turned off the TV and walked out of my front door. I walked down the driveway until I was at the door of my car. I had a 1972 Nova SS, painted all black. It had been my dad's car but he gave it to me about two years before. I got in and put the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life and I glanced at my radio's clock. 11:40. I backed out of our graveled driveway and onto the dirt road. I drove down to the highway and pulled out. I drove south towards Bloomfield and drove down the big hill known as B Hill. At the bottom, I stopped for a moment at the red light and made a right turn. I drove a little ways on that street and pulled into the trailer park on the right. I pulled up to Zayna's house and honked the horn. A few seconds later she came out the front door. Zayna wasn't a girly girl. She was more of a "jeans and t-shirt" kind of girl. She was about 5' 4" and had light brown skin. Her brown hair was a little longer than shoulder length. She wore glasses over her dark brown eyes.

She opened the door of my car and sat in the passenger seat. "What's up?" she said as she sat down.

"Just chillin'," I said as I began to pull out of the trailer park.

"Same old Paul," she said, "just goin' with the flow, huh?

"Yeah," I said, "just livin' each day as it comes. Making up my life on the fly."

"Sounds like a good way of doing things."

"Well, it got me through high school didn't it?"

"Barely," she said, "You almost failed junior year."

"Hey, that wasn't _all_ my fault. Mr. Star was bein' a douche bag…him and his laser eye." (There was a science teacher at BHS named Mr. Star. He had a glass eye, but me and my friends would joke around and say it was a laser eye.)

"Oh, sure," she said sarcastically, "You were just being lazy, admit it."

"OK, you caught me. I just didn't like chemistry." We both laughed and I glanced down at the radio. "How 'bout some tunes?" I asked.

"Sure," said Zayna. I hit the CD button on my stereo and "Just a Friend" by Biz Markie started playing. Zayna and I both laughed. Back in high school, we would always sing this song. We sang along to the song, with the volume all the way up and the windows rolled down. Sure, people at the stoplights looked at us like we were crazy, but we didn't care. We listened and sang along to a few more songs until we arrived at the mall. Bloomfield was a pretty small town and didn't have a mall, so we had to drive to Farmington (Farmington was only about a 30 minute drive from Bloomfield). We both got out of the car and walked into the Animas Valley Mall. The mall hadn't changed much since I was a kid. I mean, a toy store might've shut down, just to be replaced by another toy store, but it basically stayed the same. Zayna and I walked around the mall just talking about stuff. How life had been since graduation (we had just graduated in May). Zayna was going to be starting college at San Juan College in a few weeks. We talked about our schedules and found out that we had a few classes together.

"You can't be lazy anymore," said Zayna as she hit me in the arm, "college is a completely different game than high school and I'm not gonna let you cheat off of me."

"Yeah, you will," I said.

"And how do you know that?" she asked.

"Because you're my best friend." (We always used that excuse when talking to each other)

"Well, I guess that's a good enough reason," said Zayna with a smile. We walked over to the food court and decided to get something to eat.

"What sounds good?" I asked as I looked at all of the different restaurants.

"Food," said Zayna jokingly.

"Well, duh," I said, "but what kind of food?"

"The edible kind," she said.

"OK, now you're just being ridiculous," I said, smiling. She laughed and we both finally decided on Subway. We sat down and we began to eat. "So how's Luke been?" I asked Zayna (Luke had been her boyfriend since sophomore year and he'd never really minded the fact that Zayna had a lot of guy friends).

"He's been good," she said.

"What's he doing today?" I asked.

"He has to work until 3."

"Oh, that sucks. He's more than welcome to come to the party after work though."

"Yeah, I'll tell him." We chatted as we finished up our sandwiches and I glanced at my watch.

"Shit," I said, "It's already 1:40. We gotta go now." We hurried out of the mall and I drove back to my house. We pulled into the driveway to see that only my mom and dad were there. Zayna and I walked inside and found my parents sitting at the table, talking. My dad was about 5' 9" with black hair (a few gray spots), brown eyes, brown skin, and he was pretty muscular. Mom was only about 5'2" with brown hair (also, a few gray spots), brown eyes, light brown skin, and she was kinda on the chubby side. Zayna and I greeted them both and dad reached under the table.

"Just figured that I'd give you your present now," he said, "Happy birthday." He handed me a Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun. I held the gun in my hands and looked it over. I aimed down the sight and it felt pretty good.

"Wow," I said as I lowered the gun, "Thanks, dad."

"You're welcome," he said.

"Whoa, Paul," said Zayna, "Don't hurt anyone with that now." I chuckled and carried the gun back to my bedroom. I opened my gun cabinet and placed it in there. I already had several other guns in there. My grandpa had passed away a few years ago and he had a pretty good stockpile. I had been left with his AR-15, a Desert Eagle, a nine millimeter, two M1911's, an M-16, and an MSG90 sniper rifle (don't ask where he got that…I don't even know).

I walked back into the living room just as there was a knock at the door and I opened it to see three of my best friends standing there (they were also the only other ones invited besides Zayna and Luke). Their names were Will Chavez, Michael Gilliam, and Seth Schreffler. Will was about my height. He had brown, curly hair and some freckles on his face. His eyes were either green or blue, I'm not sure (wow, I'm such a bad friend). Seth was also about my height, but he was more muscular. He had short brown hair and he had a full beard. Michael was about an inch or two shorter than me. He had really dark brown hair (almost black), and he was kinda skinny and lanky.

My friends stepped into the house and we all started the party. We were playing video games (Zayna even joined in). We played for about an hour, until Zayna stepped outside. I finished up the next match and went outside after her.

She stood on our deck, talking on her phone. "OK," she said, "bye." She hung up and sighed. I could tell that she was disappointed about something.

"What's up Zee?" I asked as I walked over to her.

"I just talked to Luke," she said, "and he's not gonna be able to make it. One of the other guys called in sick and now he has to work until eight."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said.

"It's fine," she said, "and besides you guys are plenty of fun." We walked back inside to find Will and Seth arguing.

"Come on, Seth," said Will, "You know that kill was bullshit."

"I don't know anything," said Seth.

"I second that," said Michael.

"Shut up, Nigel," said Seth (Back in the eighth grade I accidentally called Michael Nigel and the nickname just stuck).

"OK, guys," I said, "calm down. I really don't wanna have to kick you guys outta here." They both calmed down and said they were sorry.

"So what's up, Paul?" said Seth, "I want some cake, man."

"You guys all wanna cut the cake now?" I asked. All of them agreed and we moved into the kitchen. I sat down and had to go through having everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to me. We cut up the cake and ate it with ice cream. My mom had made the cake and it was pretty amazing. We all talked and joked as we ate and we were all having a really good time. We had left the TV on and as we ate, we were alarmed by a special news broadcast.

President Obama was addressing the entire country Live from D.C. "My fellow Americans," he said.

"This oughta be good," I heard Seth mumble.

"It has come to my attention that our nation will soon be facing a new epidemic. Scientists were conducting experiments with the rabies virus. Through mutation, the virus has been made to affect humans more drastically. Last night, some of the samples were stolen from the lab and released into the air. We do not yet know if the virus will spread through the air, but it is better to take all precautions. Remain in your homes, avoid all contact with the infected, and wait for official instructions. We will keep you updated as we learn more about this crisis. Thank you, America." The TV station then returned to its normal programming. We all sat in silence for a moment, dumbstruck by what we'd just heard. Finally, my mom broke the silence.

"Well," she said, "looks like you kids are gonna be staying here for a while." We were all so nervous that we couldn't even finish our cake (yeah, it was that bad). We figured that me and my friends would take the back bedroom (it was kinda the hang-out for when my friends came over), mom would take her room, and dad could get my bedroom. For the next few hours, we tried to have fun and get the disturbing news out of our minds.

At about eight, mom sent us off to bed and went to bed herself. So, my friends and I all sat around, just thinking. All of them had already called their parents and stuff. I sat on my futon with Zayna, Will and Michael sat on two beanbag chairs I had, and Seth sat in the chair at my desk, rocking back and forth. "So what do you guys think about this virus?" asked Michael, breaking the silence.

"I think everyone is just overreacting," said Will, "It'll all blow over by tomorrow."

"And what if it doesn't?" asked Seth, "Just what the hell are we supposed to do then?"

"Well," said Will, "what's the worst that could happen? The virus kills all of humanity?"

"It might not be that simple," I said, "maybe its one of those population control things."

"If they were gonna thin out the population like that, do you think they'd just tell us?" asked Seth, "There's something goin' on and it isn't just your run-of-the-mill false alarm."

"Well, they said it was rabies, right?" asked Zayna.

"Yeah," we all said in unison.

"And they said that it can now infect humans. So the worst result is probably gonna be some crazed lunatics running around."

"You mean, like, zombies?" asked Seth.

"Zombies?" asked Zayna, "Really, Seth?"

"Ya never know," said Michael, "it could happen."

"Still," said Will, "it's not very likely. I mean, this is real life. Not some horror flick that you see on late-night TV."

"I dunno, guys," I said, "I'm kinda more with Seth on this one. I mean, think about it. Think about what rabies does to animals. It makes them wild. They attack anything and everything. If that happens to people, that basically makes them zombies. Not legit 'rise from the dead' zombies, but still zombies."

"Well who's to say that it won't just kill people?" asked Will.

"I'm just saying," I said, "It's a possibility. There's a slim chance of it happening, but it's a possibility." The conversation went on for a few more minutes in basically the same fashion. We finally managed to fall asleep around 9 and we were given a rude awaking in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2: A Turn for the Worse

Chapter 2: Turn for the Worse

I woke to my dad shaking me awake. "Come on," he said, "get up!" I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at my dad, who was holding his M1911 pistol.

"What's up?" I said groggily.

"There's something outside," he said, "come with me and check it out." By this time, the others had woken up and were starting to get up.

"Alright," I said. I stood up and walked over to my gun cabinet. I took out my shotgun and put eight shells into it. I grabbed about another 20 shells and shoved them into my pockets. "Take what you want," I said to the others. Will instantly rushed over and picked up the AR-15. Michael picked up the MSG90 and took the nine millimeter, Seth took the Desert Eagle, and Zayna decided to dual wield the M1911's. They quickly loaded their guns (We kinda had to show Zayna how, because she'd never really used a gun) and grabbed some extra ammo (my gun cabinet was stocked with tons of ammo).

We followed my dad into the living room, and I glanced at the clock in there. It was 8:43 A.M. Dad peeked out the small window of our door. "I can't see anything," he said. He carefully opened the door and stepped outside. I told Zayna to stay with my mom and the rest of us followed my dad. We stepped outside onto the deck and stayed absolutely quiet. We could definitely hear something. Some kind of weird growling noise. My dad motioned for us to follow him and he slowly started down the steps. We walked down the driveway, the sound growing louder as we progressed. Dad peaked his head around the corner of the house and quickly turned back to us.

"Who is it?" Seth whispered.

"Mrs. Carter and Mr. Greenleaf," he whispered back (they were a couple of our neighbors). "I'm gonna go check it out, but cover me. There's just something not right about them." We all nodded in response as dad went around the corner.

"Mornin', folks," he said as he walked towards them. Mrs. Carter and Mr. Greenleaf both growled loudly in unison as they turned to face dad. We all kind of jumped when we saw their faces. There was fresh blood all around their mouths and their skin was extremely pale. They stood about twenty feet away from dad and they both growled as they started sprinting towards us. Now, these two were both elderly people. Mrs. Carter was in her 80's and Greenleaf was in his 70's. Their age didn't make a difference though. They flew towards my dad and got to him in a couple seconds. Mr. Greenleaf got there first and dad gave him a good right hook. It kind of stumbled him, but not for long. He quickly regained his composure. Dad fired his pistol and hit Mrs. Carter right in the heart. Again, it staggered her, but she didn't fall.

"What the hell?" said dad. He fired again, hitting her in the chest. Still nothing. Mr. Greenleaf was right about to hit dad when Will fired, hitting him right in the temple. Greenleaf fell to the ground, blood spraying from the bullet hole. Dad fired again, hitting Mrs. Carter's head. She also fell and we all took a moment to gather our wits.

"OK," said Will, "just what the fuck was that?"

"I think Seth was right," I said, "looks like that virus has turned people into zombies."

"Zombies?" said my dad, "You kids and your imaginations."

"Come on, dad," I said, "You saw them. Sure, they were still human, but they just weren't the same. I don't expect you to understand. You were never really into watching zombie flicks."

We all looked down at the bodies of the fallen zombies, blood pouring from their wounds. "Ya know," said Seth, "If you think about it, this could be lots of fun."

"What do you mean?" asked Will.

"Come on," said Seth, "We get to kill people, but they're not really people anymore, so we're not really killing anyone."

"Seth," said Michael, "I worry about you."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." We all kind of laughed and headed back inside.

"What happened?" asked my mom and Zayna in unison.

"Well," said dad, "we were just being good neighbors."

"What do you mean?" asked mom.

"Mrs. Carter and Mr. Greenleaf had changed into some weird things and we had to kill them. I don't know what they were, but the boys called them zombies."

"Oh my God," said Zayna, "Don't tell me that Seth was right."

"Yeah, pretty much," said Michael.

"I gotta give you props," said Zayna, "I thought you were stupid, but it looks like you proved me wrong."

"I have my moments," said Seth.

"So what're we gonna do?" asked my mom.

"I don't know," said dad, "Obama said to stay in our homes and avoid all contact with them, but it looks like its too late for that."

"Should we just stay here and try to wait it out?" asked Zayna.

"That would work for a couple days," said my mom, "but I haven't been grocery shopping in a few days and we don't really have that much food."

"What do you guys think?" asked my dad as he turned to face Will, Michael, Seth, and I. We all looked at each other with puzzled looks on our faces.

"I don't think it's too smart to stay here for long," I said.

"Yeah," said Michael, "Our best bet is to go and barricade ourselves in an easily defensible spot."

"This place isn't too great," said Seth, "too many windows."

"You guys OK with that?" asked dad as he looked at mom and Zayna. They nodded. "Alright, pack your things. We'll be leaving soon." Just then, our radio (which had been kept on since last night) started saying something.

"All people in the Farmington area," said a man, "please report to the Farmington airport for evacuation. I repeat, please report to the Farmington airport for evacuation." The message repeated and we all looked at each other.

"Well," said dad, "It looks like that where we're headed." We all started to gather things for the trip. We had a ton of backpacks around the house. Enough for each of us and we still had one left over. We all packed ammo and some food into our bags. I opened a drawer in my gun cabinet and there were a bunch of flashlights. We all mounted them onto our guns. I took out a few straps that went over the shoulder, so that we could carry our guns on them. Those with rifles clipped their guns onto them and those with pistols carried them anyways.

We all gathered back in the living room a few minutes later. "Alright," said dad, "everyone ready?" We all agreed. "So how're we gonna do this? Who's going in which car?"

"How about you and mom take your truck and the rest of us can take my car?" I asked.

"Alright then," said dad, "let's go." He carefully opened the door and peeked out. He stepped outside and took a look around. "Clear," he said. The rest of us poured out of the house. We all walked down the driveway until at our vehicles. Dad opened the back door of his truck and took out a rifle case. He took out a 30-06 rifle and clipped it to his shoulder strap (dad carries a gun almost everywhere he goes). He and mom got into the truck and started it up. Will, Michael, and Zayna got into the backseat of my car and Seth got shotgun. I started up my car and rolled down the window. Dad rolled down his window as well.

"Just follow us," he said, "and don't stop for anything." I nodded and we both pulled out of the driveway. We pulled onto the highway and started heading towards Bloomfield (we had to go through Bloomfield to get to the airport). We got to B Hill and as soon as we could see over it, we all gasped. The street was full of zombies.

"Damn," said Seth, "Did the whole town get infected?"

"I guess so," I said.

"Well, fuck 'em," said Seth, "just run 'em down."

"Oh really?" I asked sarcastically, "What did you expect me to do? Honk at them and hope they moved?"

"Just tryin' to help," said Seth. We got to the bottom of the hill and noticed that dad sped up. We sped up as well, splattering some zombies as we went. I got into the right lane, so that I could see past dad's truck. We turned right at the stoplight and kept going. Ahead of us, I saw a really fat zombie step into our path.

"Look at this guy," said Will, "He needs NutriSystem or something." I chuckled as I sped up even more, preparing to ram him. We hit the zombie and he instantly exploded. He exploded with such force that it managed to send the car into the air. The car flipped over and we all grunted from the impact.

"Everyone OK?" I asked. They all moaned agreements. I managed to open my door and crawl out. The others soon followed. I looked around and saw that we'd gathered some attention. A huge mob of zombies was sprinting towards us. "Holy shit," said Seth, "This is gonna be awesome!"

"Get ready, guys," I said. We all began shooting at the zombies, taking down a lot of the first wave. I saw my dad's truck skid into a group of zombies, flattening them. He rolled down his window and looked over at us. "Just go!" I yelled. He looked at me like I was crazy, as did my friends. I didn't want them to stick around and get hurt. No sense in all of us dying right here.

Dad's truck accelerated, flattening another group of zombies. He sped down the street and towards Farmington. There were still zombies that needed to be taken care of. One rushed up to me and I shot both of his legs off. His upper body fell to the ground and he started crawling towards me. I fired again, taking off his head. Blood and brains flew everywhere. Seth fired his Desert Eagle and totally destroyed a zombie's head. Michael was using his pistol, since a sniper wasn't really made to be used up close. Zayna was firing her pistols as fast as possible and it surprised me how good of a shot she was (she was getting tons of head shots). Distracted by the zombies, we didn't notice another approaching. Another of the fat zombies stepped around the car and leaned back. He shot his head forward, puking on all of us.

"What the fuck, bro?" yelled Seth. We all hurriedly wiped the puke from our eyes and saw the fat zombie rushing us. Seth shot him, causing him to explode, sending more goo flying. The explosion knocked us all off our feet. We quickly got up and saw that even more zombies were rushing us. "This is bullshit!" yelled Seth as he punched a zombie straight in the face. I quickly put eight more shells into my shotgun and cocked it. I rifle butted the zombie in front of me and then blew his head off. Zayna kicked a zombie right in the nuts, which seems to still hurt when you're a zombie. He kind of fell to the ground and she put a bullet in his head. Michael was busy with a girl zombie, kind of wrestling her. He put his pistol under her chin and fired three times, blowing her brains out.

It continued like this for a few minutes. Suddenly, the zombies stopped coming. We all took a moment to catch our breath and reload our guns. After a minute of heavy breathing, Seth broke the silence. "That…was…AWESOME!"

"You're such a little kid, Seth," said Will, "We could've died right there, but you were having the time of your life."

"Damn straight," he said, "Didn't you guys think that was fun?"

"It wasn't exactly fun," I said, "but I could get used to it."

"Now see that?" said Seth, "Paul knows how to live. Come on you guys, we're the baddest motherfuckers in Bloomfield! No zombie is gonna stop us!" Just then, the wall in the building of the Dominoes Pizza across the street broke open. A huge muscular zombie emerged and yelled with rage.

"Except maybe that one," said Seth.

"What the hell is that?" yelled Zayna.

"Something bad," said Michael.

"Run or shoot?" asked Will as he took a few steps back. The huge zombie started running towards us. His legs were really small compared to the rest of his body and he had to use his arms to walk. "Run or shoot?" asked Will again.

"Both," I said as I began to run backwards. The others followed and the huge zombie picked up speed. He was right next to my flipped over car and he hit it with his right hand. The car came flying towards us and we all dove out of the way. We quickly got up and fired at the zombie. He yelled in rage again and reached down to the ground. He dug his hands into the ground and pulled up a slab of concrete.

"What's he gonna do with that?" asked Seth as he loaded another clip into his gun. The zombie raised the rock over his head.

"Shit," I yelled, "he's gonna throw it! Scatter!" We all scrambled to spread out and the zombie threw the rock. Seth ducked just in time, otherwise that would've killed him. We continued shooting at the zombie as he ran towards us. The zombie ran straight for Seth and Seth loaded another clip into his gun.

"You wanna go?" asked Seth, "Let's go then!" Seth rushed the zombie and fired a round into its chest. The zombie swung his massive fist, which Seth ducked under. Seth circled around the back and jumped onto his back. The zombie tried to reach back and peel Seth off, but his huge muscles wouldn't let him reach. Seth climbed up and put his pistol to its head. "Good night, you ugly bastard." Seth fired the whole clip of his Desert Eagle into the zombie's head and he yelled in pain as he fell to the ground. Seth climbed off of the body and stood up. He kicked the zombie and reloaded his gun. We all jogged over to him as we reloaded.

"What the hell were you thinking?" asked Michael, "That thing could've ripped you to pieces!"

"I know," said Seth, "but it didn't."

"You crazy bastard," I said as I shook my head while smiling.

"Yeah, I know," said Seth, "but there's a method to my madness."

"I guess so," said Zayna, "you just took down a thing that looks like Arnold on roids."

"What made you think of doing that though?" asked Will, "Climbing up on his back like that?"

"I dunno," said Seth, "To be honest, I was just making shit up."

"It looks like we finally found something you're good at," I said, "Who would've thought that killing zombies would be your calling?" We all laughed and looked around. We were in the parking lot of Farmer's Market (it was Bloomfield's local grocery store). We took a look around and found some human bodies. It looked like some people hadn't been as lucky as us. I walked up to a body and saw that the man was holding a shotgun. I leaned down and picked it up. It was a SPAS-12, a semi-automatic shotgun. "Now where does a guy get something like this?" I asked myself. The gun had a six shot magazine and the guy had tons of extra ammo on him. It also already had a barrel-mounted flashlight. "Hey, Seth!" I yelled. He came jogging over to me.

"What's up?" he asked. I tossed him my Remington 870. He saw the SPAS-12 in my hands and smiled. "Got yourself a new toy, huh?"

"Yeah," I said with a grin, "This should fuck some shit up." Seth took my ammo for the Remington 870 and I took the SPAS-12 ammo from the dead guy. I clipped the gun onto my shoulder strap and we all began to gather together. Zayna was holding a MAC-10 in her hands, which she'd found on a dead body.

"So what do we do now?" asked Michael.

"I don't know," I said. I turned and looked at Farmer's Market. "Maybe we could just stay there for a while and think." They all agreed and we walked up to the doors. The doors were all locked and I was about to give up, when someone came to the door. I looked through the glass and was surprised to see Amos Brown. We had all gone to school with Amos since elementary school and he had been a pretty good friend of mine. He was about 6' 2" with black, curly hair. He had brown skin and dark brown eyes. He took a key ring out of his pocket and unlocked the doors. The doors slid open and Amos stepped out slightly. He was holding an Uzi and had a survival knife on his belt.

"Hey, guys," he said. We all greeted him and he said, "I was watching you guys fight. You guys are pretty bad ass. Especially you, Seth. Jumping on the back of that thing took some big balls."

"I try," said Seth, flattered by Amos' comment.

"How long have you been here?" I asked Amos.

"Just a few hours," he said, "I've been waiting for someone else to show up and I'm really glad it was you guys."

"And we're glad it was you," said Zayna, "Not many other people would've opened the doors for us."

"I'm not just gonna leave my friends out here to die," he said, "come in." We all walked into the store and Amos locked the doors behind us. We looked around and saw a few zombie corpses lying around. We walked to the left and into the Deli area. We saw Jacob Salazar standing there, holding an Uzi. Jacob was about 5' 8" with dark brown hair (he usually put tons of gel in it), he had really light brown skin, and he was skinny (him and Michael basically had the same build).

"What's up, Jacob?" said Will.

"Just slaughtered some zombies," he said pointing to a pile of dead zombies. "It's not much compared to you guys though. I watched you guys fight that big motherfucker and, damn, you guys are pretty bad."

"Most of that was Seth," said Zayna, "It looks like recklessness actually helps when fighting zombies."

"Guess so," said Amos.

"Speaking of zombies," said Will, "Don't you guys think that we should name them so that it's easier to communicate in battle? I mean, we're bound to come across more of them."

"I guess so," I said, "It would help."

"So, just say fat guy and steroids," said Seth, "Problem solved."

"I dunno," said Michael, "I was hoping for cooler names than fat guy and steroids."

"Then you come up with one," said Seth.

"Alright," said Michael. He thought for a few seconds then said, "I've got it. That fat guy exploded, right? Why not call him a Boomer?" We all looked at each other and nodded.

"Sounds good to me," said Zayna, "Now what about that huge guy?"

"I think I've got that one," said Will, "Think about it, that guy was super hard to kill. It was almost like he was indestructible. The first thing I thought of was a tank, so how about we call 'em Tanks?" We all agreed on the names and walked over to the tables in the Deli. We looked out the windows into the parking lot.

"Damn, that sucks about your car, Paul," said Will.

"Yeah, but I got some good use out of it," I said. We all sat there and began talking about our next move. One way or another, I knew we'd make it through this. I knew that some of us might not make it, but I intended to save everyone I could.


	3. Chapter 3: Clearing out the Fort

Chapter 3: Clearing out the Fort

As we sat in the Deli of Farmer's Market, we began to discuss our next move. "So how long are we gonna stay here?" asked Will.

"I don't know," I said, "I think we should just stay here overnight."

"Well," said Amos, "If we're gonna be staying here overnight, then we'll need to clear this place out."

"Are you saying that there's still zombies wandering around in here?" asked Zayna.

"Yeah," said Jacob, "me and Amos wouldn't have been able to take 'em out ourselves, but now that you guys are here, we can all split up and exterminate 'em."

"I guess so," I said, "You wanna start right now?"

"Fine with me," said Seth, "I'm always down to kill some more zombies." I looked over at Will and Michael. They both nodded and I looked over at Zayna.

"Sure, why not?" she said.

"Alright then," said Jacob, "Let's all split up and take 'em out. Amos and I will go together."

"What do you say, Seth?" asked Will, "Partners?"

"I guess so," said Seth, "You'd die if I didn't go with you."

"Hey, shut up," said Will.

"So, Michael," I said, "You wanna go with me and Zayna?"

"Sure, I guess being a group of three would help," he answered. We all stood up from the tables and loaded our weapons.

"So how're we gonna do this?" asked Seth as he put the eighth shell into his shotgun.

"Well, I guess me and Jacob can take the storage area," said Amos.

"Me and Seth can take the west side of the store," said Will.

"I guess that leaves the rest of the store for us," I said to Michael and Zayna. We all headed out to our areas and began searching for zombies. After only a few minutes, I heard Seth yell something and his shotgun went off.

"Well, he's getting an early start," said Michael.

"If you ask me," said Zayna, "I'd say that he's a little too eager to kill things. I worry about him."

"That's just Seth," I said, "I've worried about him since the day I met him." We walked into an aisle and saw a small group of zombies. Michael fired his pistol, hitting one in the head. Zayna fired a burst from her MAC-10, staggering one of them. I fired two shots from my shotgun, mowing down two of them. Zayna fired another burst, finishing off the one she'd wounded. One of them rushed us and Michael grabbed a can of soup from the shelf next to him. He threw the can at the zombie as hard as he could, denting both the can and the zombie's skull. I fired my shotgun again, taking out the last of the group.

We stood amongst the fallen zombies and took a moment to reload our weapons. "That soup can kill was pretty good," I said with a smile. Michael grinned as he reloaded his pistol.

"It was right there and I just couldn't help it," he said. We all chuckled and continued down the aisle. I heard Seth's shotgun go off again and I heard Will yell at him for something. He was probably complaining that Seth was taking all of the kills. I heard guns going off in the storage area, as well.

"Sounds like those guys are having fun too," I said. We walked down the next aisle and saw a couple of zombies hitting each other. We just stood there and watched them fight for a few seconds.

"Think we should step in?" asked Michael. Without even answering, I took both of the zombies down with a couple of shots from my shotgun. As I reloaded, I heard someone cough loudly nearby. I looked over at Michael and Zayna and confirmed that they'd heard it too. It was like a hardcore smoker's cough (like three packs a day). We readied our weapons and proceeded down the aisle cautiously. We were about halfway through the aisle when someone stepped into view at the other end.

They were pretty tall, maybe about 6' 8", and really lanky. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth, almost to the floor. He coughed and I realized that this was what we'd been hearing. It was some kind of zombie, I knew that for sure. Suddenly, the zombie screamed and his tongue shot out of his mouth, straight towards us.

The tongue hit Zayna and wrapped around her, pulling her to the ground. "Help!" she yelled as the zombie reeled her in. Michael fired his pistol, hitting the tongue. The tongue split and Zayna fell to the ground. We quickly ran over and untangled her. We helped her up and I looked up to where the zombie had been to see that he was gone (Ninja Vanish). I quickly looked around, hoping to see him somewhere.

I heard him cough again and it sounded like it had come from above us. I looked up to see the zombie standing on top of the shelf. He screamed again and shot his tongue out at me. I dodged to the left and fired my shotgun. He coughed one last time and exploded into a cloud of smoke. We all coughed as we hurried out of the cloud. We took a moment to catch our breath and I put another shell into my shotgun.

"Thanks for saving me," said Zayna, "I really hate being the damsel in distress."

"It's cool," I said, "but what the hell was that thing?"

"I don't know," said Michael, "but that was some crazy shit."

"It's obvious that it was a zombie," said Zayna, "So what're we gonna call this one?"

"Well," I said, "that cough reminded me of a smoker and he exploded into smoke when I killed him, so how about Smoker?"

"Sounds good," said Zayna.

"Sounds good to me too," said Michael. We walked out of the aisle and looked to our left and saw Seth and Will walking towards us.

"Heard some racket," said Seth, "just thought we'd come and make sure you guys were alright."

"Yeah, we're good," said Michael, "but we just took out some crazy-looking zombie."

"What do you mean?" asked Will.

"We'll tell you later," I said, "So did you guys already clear out your area?"

"Yep," said Seth, "not one zombie left over there."

"Yeah," said Will, "Seth killed almost all of them. I only killed, like, two."

"It isn't my fault that my trigger finger is faster," said Seth.

"I'm just gonna stop you guys right now before you start arguing," I said (Seth and Will argued a lot, but it never went past that because Will knew that Seth would kick his ass without hesitation).

"That's probably a good idea," said Seth. We all walked back towards the Deli, where we found Amos and Jacob waiting for us.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Jacob.

"We actually had some zombies to kill," said Seth, "We weren't just going for a stroll, like you guys."

"Hey, we killed some zombies too," said Amos.

"But did you kill one with a soup can?" asked Michael.

"What?" asked Amos, "No!"

"Well, I did," said Michael, "and it was fucking epic." We all laughed and we walked back over to the tables.

"Now what was it that you were saying about some crazy-looking zombie?" asked Will as we sat down.

"Oh, yeah," I said, "Well, we were walking down an aisle and heard coughing around us. We had gotten halfway though the aisle and this really tall zombie stepped in front of us. This guy's tongue was dangling out of his mouth, almost to the floor. Then, he starts screaming and shoots his tongue at us."

"And he wrapped me up in it and started pulling me in," said Zayna.

"Me and Paul managed to free her," said Michael, "but when we looked up that zombie was gone. We heard him cough again and it turned out that he was standing on top of the shelf. He tried to get Paul with his tongue, but Paul dodged and shot him. Then, the guy exploded and smoke went everywhere."

"That's some crazy shit," said Jacob.

"That's what I'm saying," said Michael.

"Did you guys come up with a name?" asked Will.

"Yeah," said Zayna, "We decided that Smoker was a good name." All of the others agreed. I glanced up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already 5 PM. I realized that I hadn't really eaten all day.

"Is it just me, or are you guys hungry too?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Michael.

"Hmmm…I wonder what zombie tastes like," said Seth.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" asked Jacob.

"It was a joke," said Seth, "Calm down. I wouldn't ever eat a zombie. I'd probably get AIDS or something." We all went and got some food from around the store. We had food in our backpacks, but we wanted to save that for when we really needed it. We all made some bologna sandwiches and had some potato chips (keepin' it simple).

We ate a few sandwiches each and just relaxed for a minute. I sat over at the tables and looked out the windows. More zombies were already starting to gather in the parking lot. Zayna walked over and sat down across from me.

"What's up, Paul?" she asked.

"Just thinking," I said.

"About what?"

"About what to do next. Do we go to the airport or do we just try and wait it out here?"

"I think we should go to the airport," she said, "that's our best chance outta here."

"Yeah, but the longer we wait here, the harder it's gonna be to blast our way outta here. I mean, look at that. Just a few hours and the zombie population is starting to replenish itself." Zayna looked out the window and nodded.

"Then we should leave ASAP. Tomorrow afternoon, by the latest."

"Yeah, that's probably the best idea. So how've you been? You doin' alright?"

"Yeah, despite having a tongue all over me earlier, I'm just dandy. I'm just…" she paused and let out a sigh.

"Just what?"

"I'm worried about Luke. I haven't heard from him since yesterday. I called him after that news thing and he said that he was going home. His boss told all of the workers to go home."

"I'm sure he's alright. Luke's a smart guy. He'll figure something out."

"I hope he's alright. I just wish that he was here with us. I'd feel a lot better if I knew he was OK.".

"Zayna, look at me." She looked over at me, her eyes starting to water. "It'll be fine. Don't let yourself get discouraged. It'll all turn out fine in the end." Zayna smiled slightly and wiped her eyes.

"Thanks, Paul," she said, "You always know what to say."

"That's what friends are for," I said.

"I'm glad to have you as a friend. Especially now. Without you guys, I probably would've died by now."

"Don't talk like that. You're a tough girl. I'm sure you could take care of yourself. I know I wouldn't want to fight you."

"Oh, shut up," she said with a smile. I glanced over at the clock again. It was already 6:30. The others walked over to the tables and joined us.

"So what's the verdict?" asked Seth as he sat down, "When are we leaving this dump?"

"Does early tomorrow morning sound good to you guys?" I asked.

"Just how early is 'early'," asked Seth, "because I need my beauty sleep."

"I was thinking about 3 or 4," I said, "If we go to sleep now and sleep in shifts, we can do it."

"I guess," said Seth.

"Come on," said Will, "haven't you ever heard that saying 'the early bird gets the worm'?"

"Why the fuck would I want a worm?" asked Seth.

"How about this?" asked Michael, "The early bird kills the Tank."

"Now, that's more like it," said Seth, "something I can relate to."

"So who's going on guard duty first?" asked Amos.

"Me and Seth will go first," I said.

"Me?" asked Seth, "Why me?"

"Because if we let you sleep first, then we'll never be able to wake you up for your shift," I said (Seth is a ridiculously heavy sleeper).

"Me and Amos will go next then," said Jacob.

"Then, me and Will," said Michael.

"Well, what about me?" asked Zayna.

"You can wake me up and I'll stay up with you," I said.

"I guess that works," said Zayna.

"So," I said, "we'll guard in two-hour shifts and we'll leave at 3 AM. How does that sound?" Everyone agreed that it sounded good and everyone except for Seth and I went to try and go to sleep. They walked behind the counter of the Deli and they had gathered some blankets from the store.

Seth and I stood and looked out the window at the darkness spreading across the parking lot. The sun was setting and there were even more zombies in the parking lot now. "Damn," said Seth, "we're gonna have a hell of a time gettin' outta here."

"Yeah," I said, "but we don't necessarily need to go out the front. There's a backdoor that we could use."

"But where's the fun in that?" asked Seth. I chuckled and shook my head.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"

"It's pretty fun if you think about it as a game."

"Is everything a game to you?"

"That's usually the only thing that'll get me to even try."

"Wish I could be like that." We had turned off all of the lights in the store and the only lights came from our flashlights now. We pointed the lights out of the window and noticed that the light reflected off of the zombies' eyes. It was like dogs' eyes or something. "They're like animals," I thought to myself. We watched as the zombies fought amongst themselves. Even going so far as to kill on another.

Seth and I talked a bit and just wandered around the Deli, snacking on the merchandise. When our time was up, we woke Amos and Jacob and laid down on the blankets. Most other nights, I would've fallen asleep easily, but not tonight. I could hear the growls and snarls of the zombies outside and that kept me awake for a while. After about twenty minutes, I managed to fall asleep.

"Paul, get up," I heard Zayna say. I opened my eyes and she was sitting above me, lightly shaking me awake.

"What's up?" I asked.

"It's time for our shift," she said.

"Oh, yeah, that's right," I said. I glanced over at Michael and Will, who were already making themselves comfortable. I sat up and Zayna helped me to my feet. We walked over to the tables and looked out at the parking lot. We could barely make out the silhouettes of the zombies without our lights. I could easily spot a Boomer and a Smoker in the crowd.

"I wonder what they're thinking," said Zayna, "I wonder if they even _do_ think."

"It's hard to say," I said, "but one thing's for sure: We can't let them be the end of us. We're only teenagers. We have our whole lives ahead of us. I wouldn't want it to end now." Just then, Zayna and I both froze when we heard a low-pitched growl nearby. I flicked on my flashlight and looked around. Nothing. We heard the growl again and it sounded like it was inside.

I looked over at Zayna who had become very pale. "It can't be inside," I thought to myself, "We cleared this place out." Zayna also flicked on her flashlight and we frantically searched the area. All the while, the growl seemed to be getting closer and closer. I looked to my right and my light brushed past something. I looked back and saw a guy on all fours. Instantly, I knew this was another zombie. He was wearing a black hoodie and had blood dripping from his mouth. His fingers had claws on them, most likely due to mutation.

He continued growling, and suddenly let out a loud shriek. He pushed off with his legs and arms and flew through the air, right towards me. The zombie landed on my chest and took me to the ground. He raised his clawed hands and he intended to rip me to pieces.

Zayna ran over and kicked the zombie in the head. He fell off of me and onto the floor. She fired a burst from her MAC-10, hitting the head. The zombie slightly yelped in its death and Zayna helped me up. "Oh, shit," I said, "Thanks, Zee. That thing would've carved me up like a Christmas Ham."

"Don't mention it," she said.

"What the hell's goin' on out there?" I heard Jacob yell from the behind the counter.

"Nothing," I yelled back, "We've, ummm, we got it under control." I heard Jacob mumble something and the others mumbled something back (except for Seth…I'm pretty sure he was still asleep). I looked down at the zombie's body and wondered what we'd call him.

"What do you think for a name?" I asked Zayna. She looked down at the zombie and thought for a moment.

"Well," she said, "he stayed hidden from us for a while. At least, until he decided to attack. To me, that seems like a hunter. So, how about Hunter?"

"Sounds good," I said. Zayna and I sat and talked for a while longer. I glanced back at the clock. 2:45. We'd have to wake everyone up in about 15 minutes (waking Seth up was gonna be a chore). Once we were all set, we were gonna have to fight our way to Farmington. No easy task, but it would have to be done.


	4. Chapter 4: On the Move

Chapter 4: On the Move

Zayna and I walked around the Deli, talking for a while longer. We both glanced up at the clock. It was already 3. "Ya think we should wake those guys up?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, "let's go." We walked behind the Deli counter and walked over to where everyone else was sleeping. We began to shake them awake and, one by one, they all began getting up. We got around to Seth and he was mumbling something in his sleep. I looked over at Zayna who rolled her eyes. "Here goes nothing," I said.

I reached down and grabbed Seth's shoulders. I shook him as I said, "Seth, get up." Nothing. He snorted as he pushed my hands off of him and rolled onto his side.

Zayna pushed him and said, "Come on, Seth, we don't have all day." Seth stirred in his sleep, but he didn't wake up.

"Watch out, guys," I heard Will say from behind us. I turned to see him holding a bucket of water.

"Are you crazy?" asked Zayna, "Don't you realize how mad he's gonna be if you do that?"

"I've done it before," said Will, "He'll hit me once and bitch about it for five minutes after. Then, he just forgets about it."

"Whatever you wanna do," I said as I got up. Zayna smirked and rolled her eyes again. We both stepped out of the way and Will swung the bucket, throwing the water onto Seth. Seth instantly woke up and he wasn't a happy camper.

"What the fuck?" he yelled as scrambled to his feet. He slipped in the water several times, but finally got to his feet. He looked around at us, looking for the one who'd woken him. He stopped at Will and noticed the bucket in his hands.

"Morning," said Will.

"Ya sleep well?" asked Amos.

"Enough of your smart ass remarks," said Seth, "Now I wanna know why the hell you threw water on me."

"We would've spent another twenty minutes trying to wake you up if I hadn't," said Will defensively. Seth shook his head and wiped the water off of his face. He walked between Zayna and I and walked towards Will. He brushed past Will and punched him in the stomach as he passed by. Will doubled over and started gasping for air.

Seth had hit him pretty hard. Enough to knock the wind out of him. Will coughed for a few seconds and was starting to turn purple when he finally caught his breath. He held out his hand and I helped him to his feet. The others stood around us, trying not to laugh at Will. I thought it was kinda funny too, but I managed to keep a straight face. "Alright, guys," I said, "get your shit together. We gotta go." Everyone spread out and began gathering their belongings. It took us all about five minutes to get our stuff together and when we were ready, we all walked over to the doors.

We stood and looked out of the glass doors into the zombie-filled parking lot. "Ya guys ready?" asked Seth, who was still wearing his wet clothes.

"Hell yeah," said Jacob as he put another clip into his Uzi.

"Good here," said Michael as he readied his pistol.

"Let's go," said Will as he shouldered his AR-15. I looked over at Amos. He nodded at me and readied his Uzi. I looked over at Zayna and she also nodded.

"You ain't ready," I said to her.

"What? Why not?" she asked. I reached over and took the MAC-10 from her. I switched the safety off and handed it back to her.

"Now you are," I said. She smiled and we all looked back out of the windows. "Alright," I said, "I know that there's a Boomer and a Smoker out there. I saw them out there earlier. I'm thinking that we're gonna get barfed on right away. While we're distracted, that Smoker's gonna try and snag one of us. Watch for that."

"It's go time," said Amos as he pulled the keys out of his pocket. He put the keys in the door and turned the doors slid open and we shined our flashlights out of the door. The zombies turned to look at us and a Boomer pushed his way through the crowd. He sent his green puke flying straight towards us, and Seth, Michael, and I were missed by it. Everyone else was slimed and quickly wiped the goo from their eyes.

A Smoker's tongue shot out of the crowd and wrapped around Will. "Fuckin' called it," I yelled as I began shooting into the horde of zombies. The others all began shooting as well, and the Boomer got caught in the crossfire. He exploded, sending some of his flesh-eating friends flying. The I saw an explosion of smoke to confirm the death of the Smoker and Will fell to the ground. Amos and Jacob quickly helped him to his feet and he started shooting. A zombie ran up to me and I rifle-butted him. He fell to his back and I put my foot on his chest. He struggled to get up and I blew his brains out with my shotgun.

Amos and Jacob nodded at each other and rushed forward, clothes-lining a couple of zombies and then stomping on their heads. Will tripped a zombie and fired a couple bullets into its head. Seth had dismembered a zombie and was beating up other zombies with a leg. Zayna had somehow wound up with Seth's shotgun in all of the confusion and just blew off a zombie's legs with it. He crawled on the ground towards her and she kicked him in the face. That didn't stop him, so she shot again, taking off his head.

Michael had got a hold of Zayna's MAC-10 and was beating a zombie to death with it. He had it down on the ground and fired a burst into its head, killing it. I heard a Hunter screech and I quickly stepped to the side. He landed on the ground where I had been standing a few moments before. I kicked him in the head and he stood straight up. He swung at me and cut my left arm slightly. "You motherfucker," I said. I punched him straight in the face and he staggered back. I took a step towards him and blew his right leg off with my shotgun. He fell to the ground and tried to claw at my legs. "Gotta do better than that," I said. I fired, taking off his head.

I turned around to see a Boomer right in my face. I quickly pushed him and he fell backwards. He fell onto his back and was unable to get up (like a turtle). We all took a few steps back and fired upon him, popping him like a zit. The zombies stumbled back and Seth and I looked at each other.

"We really doin' this?" he asked

"Hell, yeah," I said.

"Zayna!" he shouted, "Shotgun!" Zayna tossed him the shotgun and we both charged forward into the crowd of zombies, shouting obscenities as we went. We locked arms right before we hit and plowed through the mob of zombies.

"You crazy motherfuckers!" I heard Jacob yell.

"It's what we do," said Seth with a smile. We stopped and looked all around us. Zombies looked at us hungrily and began closing in.

"Do work, son," I said. Seth and I began firing our shotguns, destroying the horde from the inside out. We ran out of ammo and dropped our guns. We locked arms once again and charged through the crowd, punching zombies as we went. We emerged from the fleshy mound and ran back to the group. They started shooting and quickly mowed down the remnants of the zombie assault force. Seth and I were still breathing heavily and we slapped each other a high five.

"You guys are insane," said Zayna as she reloaded her MAC-10.

"I thought it was pretty fun," said Seth, "What about you, Paul?"

"That might've been the funnest thing that I've ever done," I replied with a smile. We all kind of laughed and Seth and I began searching the mound of zombies for our weapons. After about a minute of digging through zombies, we found our guns and reloaded them. We stood in the parking lot and looked around. We were all kind of baffled by the amount of bodies there were.

"Wow," said Zayna, "we're total bad asses."

"Damn straight," said Seth.

"So what's the plan?" asked Michael.

"Simple," I said, "we go to Farmington and get to the airport. Jesus, Nigel, it's not rocket science."

"OK, OK," said Michael.

"Well, then let's get a move on," said Seth, "We can't stand around here all day." We all began walking west towards Farmington and we killed any zombies we saw as we walked. We walked past a school bus on the side of the road and we all stopped and stared at it.

"Should we take it?" asked Zayna.

"I don't see why not," said Will.

"I call I'm driving," said Michael. Michael began running happily to the bus when we heard what sounded like a crowd of zombies screeching. Michael stopped dead in his tracks and we all readied our guns.

"That sounded pretty close," said Zayna. Just then, a mob of zombies came running out from behind the bus. We all opened fire and started mowing them down. I quickly looked behind us and realized that they were coming from there too.

"Shit!" I shouted, "Stand back-to-back!" We all tried to scramble into formation, but we were quickly overwhelmed by zombies. We all had to fend for ourselves in this brutal free-for-all. I glanced to my left to see Will on the ground, being stomped on by zombies. Michael was wrestling with one of them and Seth was just kicking ass.

I was being hit by zombies from all sides and I was about to be taken down when I heard a strange beeping sound. I saw a red flashing light go by us and the beeping continued. The zombies all ran towards the red, beeping thing and we quickly got Will up. The zombies were all crowding around something and fighting over it.

The beeping got faster and suddenly, there was a huge explosion from inside the mob of zombies. Bits of zombie showered the area and we all groaned in disgust. "AW, HELL YEAH!" I heard someone shout. I turned to see Devyn Daniels walking towards us. I had met Devyn when I was a freshman and he was a sophomore. He was about 6' 1" with brown hair (he had a mohawk) and light brown skin. He had a pretty muscular build and he had always been the one that motivated me to push myself to my limits. He carried an AK-47 in his hands and a belt with several bombs on it. The bombs were pipe bombs with wires all over them and a little red light.

"Devyn!," I yelled, "What're you doing here?"

"Saving your ass," he said as he walked up to us.

"Thanks for the help," I said, "If you hadn't shown up when you did, we would all be mince meat by now."

"I guess I was just in the right place at the right time, huh?"

"Guess so," said Seth, "So where you headed?"

"Nowhere really," answered Devyn, "just kinda wanderin' around, killin' some zombies. What about you guys?"

"We were thinking about heading to the airport," I said.

"Don't waste your time," said Devyn.

"Whaddaya mean?" I asked.

"I just came from there," he said, "whole place is crawling with zombies." My heart instantly sank. I wondered if my parents had made it out of there OK. Zayna must've seen that I was upset because I felt her hand upon my shoulder. I looked up at her and she smiled slightly.

"Paul, I'm sure they're fine," she said reassuringly.

"Who's fine?" asked Devyn.

"His parents had gone to the airport," said Zayna.

"Oh, shit," said Devyn, "I'm sorry, man. I hope they're alright."

"Well, what the fuck are we supposed to do now?" I asked, "The airport was our ticket outta here and it's out of commission."

"Should we just go to Farmington anyways?" asked Michael, "There might still be an evacuation center there."

"I guess so," I said, "we don't have much of a choice. You wanna tag along, Devyn?"

"Do you really expect me to leave you guys alone after the display I just saw?" he asked, "HELL NO!" he answered his own question. "Without me, you muthafuckas would be dead! I ain't gonna let you guys walk around by yourselves!"

"Alright then," I said with a slight smile.

"You guys got a car?" asked Devyn.

"We were actually planning on using that," said Amos as he pointed to the bus. Devyn looked at the bus and shook his head.

"Are you fuckin' serious?" he asked, "That's some elementary school bullshit, but I guess it's better than walkin'." We all walked over to the bus and found the door open. There was nobody on there, not even a body. We all spread out around the bus and Michael sat in the driver's seat.

"OK, ladies and gentlemen," said Michael, "please, keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times." He started the engine and the bus started crawling along. We quickly got out of Bloomfield and headed west towards Farmington. On the way, we told Devyn the names of all of the zombies we'd seen so far. After we told him that, we all sat in silence for a while. I looked a few seats behind me and saw Seth roll down his window.

"Are you about to do what I think you're about to do?" I asked. He stuck his shotgun out of the window and started shooting at the zombies that we were passing. I glanced over at Devyn. He shrugged and rolled down his window too. He began shooting at zombies and I chuckled.

Zayna looked over at me and shook her head as she smiled. "If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em," I said. We both rolled our windows and began shooting at zombies. We killed zombies drive-by style until we entered Farmington. Then, we all sat back down in our seats and took a breather.

"I got 17," said Devyn, "What about you guys?"

"23," said Seth.

"20," I said.

"15," said Zayna.

"16," said Amos.

"19," said Jacob. We all looked at Will who looked embarrassed.

"What about you?" I asked.

"7," he said quietly. We all stared at him in silence for a moment and then started laughing. Zayna was the only one who didn't laugh, but she looked like she wanted to.

"What a bitch," said Seth.

"Hey," said Will, "you guys got a head start on me."

"By about thirty seconds," said Devyn, "Paul and Zayna started at the same time you did and they still beat you. And Zayna's a girl!"

"But I'm also a bad ass," said Zayna. We all laughed and reloaded our weapons.

"OK," said Michael, "where we goin'?"

"Shit, I don't know," I said, "Wal-Mart?"

"Sounds good," said Michael as he made a sharp right turn towards Wal-Mart. We drove a few blocks then I heard the engine sputtering.

"Fuckin' figures," said Jacob. The bus came to a stop a few moments later and we all sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Fuck!" yelled Devyn. We all began pouring out of the broken down bus and stood in the street for a moment. We began walking down the street towards Wal-Mart. We saw a few cars abandoned in the streets, but we didn't even think about taking them at the time (If we had, maybe things would be different now). The buildings were so much different now. Buildings that were once so bright and full of life were now dark havens for the undead. Dead bodies littered the streets. Not just men, but women and children also. Zayna covered her mouth in shock as we walked past a dead woman holding her dead child.

Zayna looked like she was having a hard time holding back tears. "You OK, Zee?" I asked. She swallowed hard and nodded. We continued walking and I could see the Wal-Mart less than a block away. Just then, I heard something that sounded like a pig squealing. We all stopped dead in our tracks and looked around. I saw something moving around behind a tree and I peered into the darkness, trying to get a better look at it.

"Over there," I told everyone, pointing my flashlight towards the tree. Someone walked out from behind it and we all froze. At first, I thought it was just a normal zombie...until I looked at its right arm. The rest of his body was normal, but his right arm was huge.

"Holy sheep shit Batman," I said as I looked at the zombie. Suddenly, it shouted and began sprinting at us. Normally, we would've taken it down quickly, but this zombie was a lot faster than any other we'd ever seen. In the blink of an eye, he whizzed by us and grabbed Jacob in his right hand as he passed. They skidded to halt and the zombie raised Jacob over his head with his massive right arm.

The zombie drove his fist to the ground, slamming Jacob to the ground. Jacob screamed and I heard bones crack. We quickly opened fire, but the zombie had time to slam Jacob one more time before he fell. We rushed over to Jacob and he was lying on the ground, choking on his own blood.

"Damn it," I said. His arms and legs were contorted and they were obviously broken. I wouldn't be surprised if every bone in his body was broken. "Pistol," I said as I held my hand out. Zayna reached into her holster and handed me one of her M1911's. I walked over to Jacob and crouched down next to him.

He coughed and mumbled, "Finish it." I put the pistol to his head and I took a deep breath. I pulled the trigger, and the gunshot followed. All was silent for a moment, and then we all exhaled at the same time (I guess everyone else had taken a deep breath too). I stood up and looked down at Jacob.

"You were a hell of a guy," I said, "you deserved a quick death. Rest in peace." I walked back over to the others and saw that everyone except Seth and Devyn had been facing the other way. I walked over to Zayna and offered her the pistol back. She took it from me and put it back into the holster. We all stood in silence for a moment and then Devyn broke the silence.

"So, what're we gonna call those guys?" he asked. We all thought for a moment.

"OK, so that guy was really fast, right?" said Seth, "He didn't exactly look it, but he was fast. So how about Charger?" We all agreed on the name and continued walking towards the Wal-Mart.

"Anyone got the time?" I asked.

"Yep," said Devyn as he looked at his watch, "its 6:23." I had a hard time believing that it'd already been three hours since we'd left Farmer's. The sun was just about to come up as we walked into the parking lot of Wal-Mart. We looked up to see a mob of zombies crowding around something and someone yelling profanities. We stood and watched for a few seconds until the zombies were all killed by the unknown survivor. The sun was just coming up and I was unable to see who it was. All I could see was that they were holding a bar stool in their hands.

"Why do you have a bar stool?" I asked.

"I had to improvise," said the survivor in a mysterious voice.


	5. Chapter 5: New Discoveries

Chapter 5: New Discoveries

I squinted to try and make out who the person standing in front of us was. They were big, whoever they were. Easily six foot and they weren't exactly skinny. I'm guessing that they were in the neighborhood of 300 pounds. The person stepped forward and blocked the sun and I slightly chuckled as I realized who it was. It was none other than Carlos Martinez.

I had met Carlos back when I was a sophomore and he was a senior. We later found out that we were actually cousins. He was taller than me, about 6' and he was easily 300 pounds (I said that they weren't exactly skinny). He had pretty white skin for being related to me (he didn't get out much) and he had dark (almost black) hair. "Carlos, what're you doing?" I asked with a smile.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Knitting a sweater?" he asked sarcastically, "I'm fuckin' killin' zombies! What're you doing? Goin' out for a stroll? I can't say I blame you. It's a nice day."

"Quit bein' a smart ass," said Seth.

"Calm down there," said Carlos, "Put that rage away and enjoy the sunrise." He turned and looked at the rising sun and let out a sigh.

"So, seriously," I said, "Why do you have a bar stool?"

"I told you," he said as he turned back towards us, "I had to improvise. I didn't have a gun or anything else, but I just saw the bar stool and grabbed it. We work with what we're given. Not all of us are gifted with guns just like not all of us are gifted with an eight inch penis."

"Hey, hey, hey," said Devyn, "Don't be getting x-rated up in here. And by the way, I happen to be one of the lucky ones. I have the gift."

"Oh my God," said Zayna, "TMI."

"Yeah," I said, "this is gettin' a little outta hand."

"OK, OK," said Carlos, "now can you guys do me a favor and tell me what the fuck you're doing here?"

"Well, maybe if you asked nicely," said Zayna.

"Please, tell me what the fuck you're doing here," said Carlos. Zayna rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she said, "I guess that's nice enough. We were on the way to the airport when Mr. Mohawk over there told us that it was a lost cause, so we decided to come here."

"Mr. Mohawk?" asked Carlos as he looked at Devyn, "That's a good one. Lemme write this down." Carlos set the bar stool on the ground and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out a notepad and a pen. He jotted down something and looked back at us.

"So you managed to get paper and a pen, but not a gun?" I asked.

"I carry this with me everywhere," he said as he put it back into his pocket, "ya never know when you're gonna need a bit of doodlin' paper."

"Surely you can't be serious," said Will.

"I am," said Carlos, "and don't call me Shirley."

"Wait…What?" asked Michael.

"Never mind," said Carlos, "I should've known you wouldn't get that. It was before your time." I looked at Carlos' blood-stained bar stool and saw that it was in pretty rough shape. One of the legs was about to break and the actual seat was covered in blood. I though for a second about what we could do. I glanced around at the team and stopped when I got to Zayna. I remembered that she had an extra pistol (and it's not like she needed both of them).

"Zayna," I said, "give Carlos one of your pistols."

"Are you serious?" she asked, "We're gonna give him a gun? Do you want to die?"

"It'll be alright," I said reassuringly, "trust me." She sighed and removed one of her holsters. She walked over to Carlos and handed it to him. He took the holster and took the gun out. He looked it over for a minute and smiled maliciously. He looked over at us and pointed the gun at us.

"BACK THE FUCK UP!" he screamed as we all pointed our guns at him, "GIMMIE ALL YOUR GUNS AND AMMO! NOW! I WILL SHOOT YOU! YOU TOO, PAUL! I'M NOT AFRAID TO SHOOT MY OWN COUSIN! NOW DO WHAT I SAID!"

"Um, Carlos, do you really expect this to work?" asked Amos, "Look at the guns we have and you have a pistol."

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!" he screamed, "I WILL MURDER YOU! I WILL-nah, I'm just messin' with you guys." Carlos laughed as lowered the gun and put it back in his holster. He strapped the holster to his belt and looked back at us. We stood there with blank expressions on our faces.

"See what I mean?" said Zayna.

"I'm kinda startin' to have second thoughts about this guy," said Devyn.

"Guys, guys," said Carlos, "It was a joke. Calm down. I couldn't shoot you guys. I love ya too much."

"Wait a second," said Devyn, "you don't even know me."

"Maybe it's you that doesn't know you," said Carlos as he raised his eyebrow, "maybe I know you better than you know yourself. Maybe you don't even exist. You might just be a figment of our imaginations. Ever think about that?"

Devyn stared at Carlos for second, thinking about what he'd said. "Can I just shoot this motherfucker right now?" asked Devyn.

"Guys, calm down," I said, "we need all the help we can get, Devyn. We shouldn't be at each others' throats at a time like this."

"Alright," said Devyn, "I guess I can refrain from killing him…for now."

"Better sleep with one eye open, Carlos," said Amos.

"How do you do that?" asked Carlos.

"It's a figure of speech," said Amos.

"TEACH ME!" screamed Carlos, "I WANT TO KNOW!"

"Carlos, shut the fuck up!" I yelled, "You keep screaming like that and you'll attract some unwanted attention."

"Sorry," he said, "Lost my cool for a second there, but I'm OK now. I'm sorry you had to see that…never speak of this again."

"Speak of what?" asked Michael.

"Exactly," said Carlos.

"Alright, alright," said Seth, "we should get outta here before those fuckin' vampires get us."

"Seth, they're zombies, now vampires," said Will.

"Wait, there's both of 'em?" asked Carlos.

"No," I said, "just zombies. Vampires aren't real."

"Then tell me something," said Carlos, "Why the hell was I shooting people with silver bullets last night? And why the fuck was I hammering wooden stakes into their hearts?"

"Because you're insane," said Amos.

"I guess that's a good enough reason," said Carlos.

"Seriously though, we should get out of the open," said Seth.

"Yeah," I said, "let's get inside." We all began walking towards Wal-Mart and Carlos began following us.

"Shit," he said as he ran back to his bar stool. He picked it up and I could've sworn that I heard him mutter, "I didn't forget ya, baby." He ran and caught up with us as we arrived at the doors. The doors slid open and we walked inside. There were bodies everywhere, zombie and human.

"Damn, there was quite the party up in this bitch," said Seth as we walked over to a dead Tank.

"Holy shit," said Carlos as he stopped next to Seth and looked at the Tank, "What is this thing?"

"That would be a Tank," said Will, "Strong as an ox and hard as fuck to kill."

"Ahem," Seth pretended to clear his throat.

"Unless you're Seth," said Will, "Happy now?"

"Very," said Seth. I watched Zayna walk over to a dead body and kneel at its side. I saw her shoulders sink and I walked over to see what it was. Once I got a little closer, I could see that she was actually crying. I got even closer and saw what she was upset about. On the ground, in a puddle of blood, was Luke. He had been about my height, had a kinda average build, light skinned, and he'd had brown hair and blue eyes.

I knelt down next to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and looked at me. "I'm sorry," I told her. She looked back down at Luke and began sobbing uncontrollably. Everyone looked over at us and I looked over to Seth. I motioned over to the door and he nodded.

"Come on, guys," he said quietly as he led the others into the store. I took a closer look at Luke's body. He had four huge slash marks across his chest. I looked to his left and saw a dead Hunter. The Hunter had bullet wounds under his chin. In Luke's right hand, he was holding a M9 pistol. He had killed the Hunter himself, but not before it had a chance to slash him.

"At least he went down fighting," I said. Zayna nodded and continued sobbing. "Hey," I said. She looked over at me, tears running down her cheeks. "It'll be alright," I told her, "Luke was a great guy, but he's in a better place now. It was just his time. I'm sorry." Zayna's lip quivered and she lowered her head onto my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her and she wrapped hers around me. "It'll be OK," I told her. She continued crying for a few more minutes, until finally she lifted her head. I let her go and she looked back at Luke.

"He's not gonna be one of them, is he?" she asked.

"I don't think so," I said, "It looks like he's been dead for a while. He would've changed by now." She swallowed hard and moved over to his side. She put her hand on his cheek.

"Goodbye," she whispered. She kissed her hand and put the hand to his lips. "I'll see you again someday," she whispered. She stood up and sighed deeply. I stood up and we both walked inside the store. All the guys were standing right there, waiting for us. Seth walked over to us and looked over at Zayna.

"I'm sorry," he said sadly. Even I was shocked by that one. Seth and Zayna had never really got along, but Seth was actually showing sympathy towards her. Zayna nodded and Seth held out his hand. "Friends?" he asked.

Zayna looked down at his hand. She grasped it and they shook hands. "Till the end," she said. They released and they smiled at each other.

"So what're we gonna do here?" asked Michael, "Looks like the place is deserted."

"Some shit went down here a while back, but it doesn't look like anyone made it," said Devyn, "Those that did make it probably got the fuck outta here after the fireworks."

"Let's just look around," I said, "besides we could get some food while we're here."

"Get some Twinkies," said Carlos.

"Of course the fat guy suggests Twinkies," said Devyn.

"It's not just that," said Carlos, not even upset that Devyn had called him fat, "They take a long time to go bad. Those things could survive a nuclear war, so a zombie apocalypse is nothin' to them."

"Yeah, I could go for a Twinkie anyways," I said. Now, this Wal-Mart had been here forever and we all knew the layout of it, basically by heart. When you first walk in the doors, there's the registers. The whole left side of the store was food and the right a mixture between automotive, sporting goods, home improvement, and the pharmacy. The center of the store was where all the clothing was and in the back was electronics, toys, and shoes.

We all walked towards the food section to get our Twinkies. We walked past the registers and it just felt wrong. It was just wrong to not see a line at every register. It was wrong to not see little kids bugging their parents for a candy bar. It was wrong not to see all the old people in their little carts, yelling at you if you get in their way.

We passed the registers and walked into produce. We all froze. There was a mob of zombies that seemed to be waiting for us there. "Shit," said Seth. The zombies rushed us and we opened fire, except for Carlos who had to wait for them to get close enough so that he could "bar stool" them to death. I fired two shots from my shotgun, taking out two zombies (one shot, one kill). A zombie got a little too close to Amos and he pulled out his knife and drove it into the zombie's skull. Zayna fired the MAC-10 in full auto mode and she fired in a sweeping motion, just mowing them down.

Michael took a few steps back and pulled out his sniper. He shouldered it and fired, popping a zombie's head. Will rifle butted a zombie and fired a few rounds into its head as it was on the ground. Seth and Devyn had rushed forward a little and were right in the midst of a mini-horde. They fought back-to-back, totally demolishing the zombies. Carlos bashed in a zombie's head with his bar stool and one of the legs of the stool broke off. He threw the stool at a zombie, knocking it over. He drew his pistol and put the zombie down for good. Suddenly I heard a Hunter shriek and Michael fell to the ground, Hunter on his chest. None of us had a clear shot at him because we were kinda busy with other zombies. I heard three shots ring out and the Hunter fell dead on Michael's chest, three bullet holes in the back of his head. We mopped up the last of the zombies as Michael got to his feet and we all looked at each other then down at the Hunter.

"I didn't hit it," said Devyn.

"Of course you didn't," I heard someone say, "That would be my handiwork." We turned to our left and saw who it was. It was Bradyn Rogers. Bradyn was a Native American guy who I'd met back in seventh grade. He was about as tall as me, with dark, shoulder-length hair. He had brown eyes and dark brown skin. He was also as skinny as a twig. He held Steyr SPP (it's basically the civilian model of the TMP, and it can only be fired in semi-auto mode).

"Bradyn," we all said simultaneously.

"The one and only," he said as he walked towards us.

"What're you doing here?" I asked.

"Just hangin' out?" asked Amos.

"Yeah, pretty much," he answered.

"At Wal-Mart?" I asked, "In the middle of a zombie apocalypse?"

"Don't judge me," he said.

"I wasn't," I said, "I was just-"

"Fuck you," interrupted Bradyn.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"Nothing really," he answered, "I just felt like saying that."

"OK, I guess that's fine," said Will.

"You're damn skippy it is," said Bradyn.

"Damn skippy?" asked Carlos, "Gotta write that one down too." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his notepad. He wrote it down and put it back into his pocket.

"So Bradyn, you wanna hang with us for a while?" asked Seth.

"I guess so," said Bradyn, "besides, I gotta stick around, seeing as Michael would die without me."

"Hey, that Hunter blind-sided me, that wasn't my fault," said Michael.

"Hunter?" asked Bradyn, "That's what you call those things?"

"Yeah, we come up with name for all the zombies," said Zayna. We realized we hadn't really told Carlos about that either, so we gave him and Bradyn a quick run-through of the zombies. Once we were all good on that we walked into the food section. We looked around picking out all of the food we wanted. I had a feeling that we were gonna need it in the coming days.


End file.
